


let him know it's christmas time

by blessarke



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: All I Want For Christmas Is Love Actually, Alternate Universe, Christmas AU, Fluff, M/M, poor!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2615795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blessarke/pseuds/blessarke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>liam is a volunteer at the london soup kitchen during the christmas season when he finds himself in front of a boy with sad chocolate eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let him know it's christmas time

**Author's Note:**

> just a christmas fic featuring vulnerable!zayn and protective!liam because they're so important.  
> i got inspired by this post: http://bigdaddypayne.tumblr.com/post/102465705830/okay-but-an-au-where-liam-is-homeless-and-zayn-is  
> any mistakes are my own. enjoy! x

what was that common saying about? "around christmas time anyone is good." that was exactly what liam had thought when nick, his sister’s boyfriend, had asked him if during the christmas season he would have wanted to help out at the london soup kitchen, where nick had been a volunteer for many years.

nick had explained him that around christmas time there was a larger need of meals, and a high number of people who were looking for something to eat or just a place to spend a few hours in the cold days of december.

and since liam had always been the kind of person to help the people in need (plus it was almost christmas, for god's sake), he had found himself accepting nick’s offer immediately.

not that he had much better things to do: louis, his best friend, had returned to doncaster to spend the holidays with his family, winter session at university was over and liam had decided that he wouldn’t have opened a single book for a while.

that's why at 11am of december 23rd liam was heading to the biggest soup kitchen of the city, in the middle of a snowstorm that had whitewashed the whole area of london in just a few hours. on his arrival, twenty minutes later, there were already dozens (maybe hundreds) of men, women and children lined up for a hot meal.

liam greeted nick quickly, introduced himself to the other volunteers, slipped on the blue apron with his name written on it and began to serve the huge line of people. that day the kitchen had prepared fettuccine alfredo and chicken pie, which looked incredibly delicious.

"good morning madam, what can i serve you? pasta, chicken, or both?" liam asked to the first person to be served. she was a beautiful woman in her fifties: liam felt his heart tighten wondering if she had a home or a family to spend christmas with.

"only pasta will be fine, thank you dear," she replied. at that exact moment liam decided that he couldn’t have chosen a better and more useful way to spend his holidays.

liam kept on distributing pasta and chicken for an hour until he was sure that his heart had stopped beating for a few seconds: in front of him, with an empty tray, there was a guy who was more or less the same age as him, with a slightly amber skin and the most beautiful and sad chocolate eyes that liam had ever seen.

"hello," liam said slowly, trying to stay in control of his emotions. "what can i serve you?"

"uhm, hi. can i have some chicken please?” the boy timidly asked while passing liam his tray. he was very thin and had glossy black hair: liam noticed that he had moved a strand that was falling over his forehead behind his ear.

"good choice, mate. do you feel that smell, it must be great!" liam tried to joke, but he felt really stupid afterwards. if this guy happened to be there he probably just wanted something to eat and he wouldn’t have paid too much attention to what was good and what was not. but the other boy was laughing and liam found himself thinking that every time he laughed, somewhere in the world a comet was born.

"it smells really good, thank you very much... liam," the guy replied, looking at the card pinned on liam’s apron. liam had put an extra dose of chicken on the boy’s plate, and he was now staring at liam with the most grateful eyes.

meanwhile, the line behind the boy was dramatically increasing. liam selfishly wished they were alone so that he could talk to him a little bit more, ask him why he was there, if someone was waiting for him at home, if only he had one…

"you’re welcome..." liam hesitated, remembering that he didn’t know the boy's name.

"zayn" he said, and with one last smile he went to sit at one of the tables of the soup kitchen with a couple of other guys.

liam kept his eyes on zayn all the time, and a half an hour later he saw him pulling the zipper of his leather jacket up, smiling quickly at him and going out in the storm.

when liam came back home in the afternoon he was more than exhausted, he had snowflakes scattered in his hair and dripping wet shoes. liam quickly changed his clothes and jumped into bed, having every intention of taking a good nap. he ended up dreaming of chicken pies, deep brown eyes and black leather jackets.

the morning of christmas eve liam woke up early, had a quick breakfast with a cup of milk and cereals and headed to green park tube station. there was even more snow than the day before, and that's why liam wanted to take his time to get to the soup kitchen: when he was a child he once had slipped in ice, had been forced to spend the christmas holidays in bed with a broken leg, and he had no intention of repeating the experience.

that day the soup kitchen was incredibly crowded but liam had been expecting it, considering that it was christmas eve. liam served an indefinite amount of spaghetti, roast meat and vegetables, and he wished everyone a happy christmas.

at a certain point liam noticed zayn sitting all alone at a table, busy eating a sandwich that he had probably brought from outside. liam kept on serving the line of people without ever taking his eyes off zayn, who glanced at liam from time to time, offering him a few shy smiles.

"maggie, do you mind being left alone for 10 minutes?" liam asked to one of the volunteers, an old lady who had seemed to like him from the start.

"i noticed the way you look at that boy, liam. you can go now, you’ll be staying ten more minutes at the end of your shift. oh, and bring him this,” maggie said preparing a generous portion of spaghetti for zayn. "he’s been coming here every day since his parents died, he’s very sweet and never dares to ask for too much food. this will please him."

liam hugged maggie quickly, thanked her and walked to zayn’s table. "hey, liam." (liam thought that the way zayn had just said his name was his new favourite thing in the world.)

"hi zayn, i brought you this," liam smiled passing zayn the plate of spaghetti. "you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to, but it was prepared by our fantastic cook and i bet it’s delicious."

zayn studied liam with a curious look, wondering why liam was being so gentle with him. finally zayn decided to take a taste of food, mumbling in appreciation. a little bit of sauce was dripping down zayn’s chin, and liam found himself thinking that he would have felt so good to run his thumb over zayn's lips and kiss him.

"i definitely couldn’t imagine that i would have spent a good christmas eve, but it’s kinda happening so thank you, liam. for, you know, everything."

liam couldn’t say if zayn was talking about the food or the small attentions that he was giving him, trying not to scare him. liam thought about maggie’s words and decided that if zayn was an orphan there was no need to ask him questions that would have made him sad, but maybe he could have done something to make zayn spend a decent christmas.

liam looked at zayn intensely, trying to be brave enough to ask zayn what he wanted to ask. "i was wondering... it’s christmas tomorrow, and the soup kitchen will be closed. would you like to spend the day with me? we won’t be alone, there will be my parents, my sisters, and my sisters' boyfriends then don’t feel like you have to, but if you have nothing else to do... " liam was literally sweating, his voice trembling and his hands clenched fist on the table, waiting for a negative answer.

but zayn’s warm fingers were suddenly stroking his wrist, in an attempt to reassure him. "liam. if everyone in your family is as nice as you i'm sure i'll be fine so yes, i'd really love to stay with you tomorrow. and not only tomorrow, if you'll let me.”

liam breathed a sigh of relief and took zayn’s hand in his own. it was going to be a wonderful christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> merry christmas! :)


End file.
